Posted on 04/16/2010 1:24:20 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator
To believe in G-d is to believe not only that there is ultimate meaning to our existence but also that this meaning is completely beyond our comprehension. We do not know why G-d created the universe and man; to know that, we would have to be G-d. We would have to abandon the human condition and confront a metaphysical reality that our brains are not equipped to absorb. A reality that asks us to do the impossible — to utterly reject our thoughts, go beyond the shore of our reason and enter into the unfeasible situation in which G-d's thoughts become ours.
As long as we do not know why G-d created anything, we cannot deal with the question why G-d allows, or even causes, so much pain to be inflicted on us. Only if we would know why the world was created would it be possible to see if there is a need for pain and if it could be justified.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Article stated: To believe in G-d is to believe not only that there is ultimate meaning to our existence but also that this meaning is completely beyond our comprehension.
I might restate that last phrase to “this meaning is beyond our complete comprehension.”
Otherwise, meaning is meaningless...because completely uncomprehended.
We know what we do not know. Got it.
Article stated: To live a life of Torah is to live a life of the greatest nobility in the presence of G-d, fully aware that the purpose of life is to live the ultimate mysterious “why” while never understanding it. Therein lies its meaning.
I think trying to live a “noble” life without any concept of “why” is an exercise in futility.
Seems the concept of love (or hesed), the faithful, covenant keeping love of God is ignored in this article.
Some things God has revealed, but not all...Deuteronomy 29:29 - The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
We know what we do not know. Got it.
I have this idea, but I cannot explain it, and you wouldn’t understand it if I could. But I know it’s right, so you ought to believe it.
;>)
Hank
Yep, seems like nonsense to me, but then so did modern physics. I can grasp just enough of it to realize that it’s probably true, and I’m an idiot.
Let me help you out rabbi ... Psalm 8
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
I have this idea, but I cannot explain it, and you wouldn’t understand it if I could. But I know it’s right, so you ought to believe it.
;>)
Hank
The article is not an argument for believing in G-d. It simply points out that for those who do believe in G-d, His ways are beyond human understanding and beyond human "justification."
Those who do not believe in G-d, on the other hand, have a different problem: how anything can be labeled "objectively evil" in the absence of a Creator and his unknown purposes.
2. Providing something does exist, its nature is ultimately infinite and can not be comprehended.
3. Providing something exists and that you could understand it, you could never explain it: there aren't enough words.
- Jainist saying
You've been on FR for six years and you don't know?
I’ve never understood that. It’s an honest question.
Unfortunately, whatever you say is likely to be the first and only serious response on this thread. I sincerely did not foresee that it would become idiot bait.
Well, it’s certainly from the Jewish perspective. The Christian perspective is that we were made to know and love God. Whereas the “annointing” of a Jew with the Spirit of the Lord is the occasional circumstance, the Christian (through the right of Confirmation) receives the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which (if developed) allows a much deeper understanding of the purpose of life. Not a criticism here, just pointing out the differences in perspective.
Furtherm St. Bonaventure explains that God created all things “not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and to communicate it”, for God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness: “Creatures came into existence when the key of love opened his hand.”
My understanding is that the Jewish people (or some of them) consider God’s name (Hebrew consonants transliterated YHWH or JHVH, where some translations get Yahweh or Jehovah) too holy to say ... so they don’t. I assume G-d is a continuation of this tradition intended to show respect for God.
Dear Rabbi,
“If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” “I and the Father are One.”
Now we know, even as we ourselves are known.
“Let everything that hath breath, praise the Lord.”
Thanks,
Xzins
I think the book of Job makes it clear that we are not, in this life, to understand everything that is going on. Certainly we are not to judge God in terms of our own feeble human understanding. Christians, however, have seen some of what God is like in Jesus Christ: extravagantly, sacrificially loving and willing to forgive. The Christian worldview is completely consistent with that of the OT book of Job. God is not willing that anyone should perish, but will one day make everything right and reward the faithful.
I don’t know if you consider people having epistemological concerns “idiot bait.”
I happen to disagree with some specific statements, that the author made, in the article you posted.
If you would like to address those, fine, perhaps we can have a discussion. Otherwise, you might want to find a group who always agrees with your views.
“It simply points out that for those who do believe in G-d, His ways are beyond human understanding and beyond human ‘justification.’”
How about when God clearly explains Himself, and why He is doing what He is doing...is that beyond our comprehension?
Deuteronomy 9:5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Actually, the whole chapter is God explaining “why.”
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